Trade reignites this Flame's fire

Nilson's presence felt in Calgary's postseason push

CALGARY, Alberta — Marcus Nilson says he had Florida Panthers in his blood. He was drafted by them, played his entire professional career for them and called South Florida home.

So it was emotional when he got that phone call March 8 informing him he had been traded to the Calgary Flames. His eyes welled and his teammates gathered in the lobby of their Toronto hotel to say farewell.

But that doesn't mean Nilson was upset about leaving. He was tired of the losing, of the revolving door of players and directions and of some teammates' lack of commitment to winning.

"I just felt I've been there for a while and it's maybe time for a change," said Nilson, who 11 weeks later finds himself in the Stanley Cup finals.

While Nilson didn't ask to be traded, he said, "I think they sensed that maybe I wanted to get traded. It was time for a change for me. I think they thought that too, and maybe it's trying to work out for both of us. I think it will."

Nilson's Flames are tied 1-1 with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Game 3 is Saturday night. Nilson suffered a head injury late in Game 1 and was affected by it late in Game 2. But considering he never missed a game due to injury as a Panther, it's going to take a lasso and a Calgary cowboy to force Nilson to sit Saturday.

Besides, the only thing Nilson is worried about these days is his playoff beard.

But he's glad to have a playoff beard. At 26 and after six years in the NHL, Nilson longed to win. He longed for postseason participation. Calgary could not have been a more perfect fit.

The Flames are coached and managed by Darryl Sutter, and the hard-working Nilson, as teammate Rhett Warrener puts it, is "the prototypical Sutter-type player." Darryl, who sent Florida a second-round pick for Nilson, is pretty much like brother Duane, one of Nilson's many coaches in Florida.

"He's Swedish, but it took me forever to figure it out because other than the name, he's kind of a Saskatchewan farm boy," linemate Shean Donovan said. "He gets fired up. He does whatever it takes to win. He sacrifices every part of his body.

"I mean, what kind of Swedish guy wears a John Deere hat? He's a proponent of fighting in the game. Look at that."

Nilson, along with Donovan and ex-Hawk Ville Nieminen, have made up Calgary's most consistent line. With Nilson, who is a natural left wing, playing center, Sutter throws the trio on the ice in every situation, usually against the opposition's most threatening lines.

"He plays so good defensively for us that he's the one who creates all the offense for us," Donovan said. "He's the one in our zone doing all the checking. Whenever we do something good as wingers, it's because he's the one who gets us going. He's smart, sound at all the little things and knows how to get open. He does it quietly."